Broady fails to join Eaton & Edmund as Brits tumble

Liam Broady saw a healthy lead slip as his dreams of playing in the main draw of Wimbledon came and went with defeat to Thomas Fabbiano in the first round of qualifying.

Broady, last year's junior finalist at SW19, led 5-2 in the first set before losing three games in a row to be pegged back. A tiebreak followed and, although Broady fought well from 5-1 down, Fabbiano punished him for letting a good lead slip and went on to seal a 7-6(5) 6-4 triumph.

A list of Brits fell but Chris Eaton progressed to the next round, as he bids to make the main draw at the All England Club for the second time, having reached the second round back in 2008.

The 25-year-old needed to come through a three-setter against Australian Benjamin Mitchell to triumph, however, eventually clinching a 7-6(4) 4-6 6-3 success. His task is about to get a lot harder, however, as he now faces the top seed Jurgen Zopp for a place in the third qualifying round.

Kyle Edmund, the youngest and lowest ranked Brit to feature on the opening day of qualifying, followed in Eaton's footsteps, coming through a tough three-setter against Daniel Gimeno-Traver to advance.

Elsewhere, David Rice made a decent fist of things against Ze Zhang, forcing a third set decider before ultimately falling to a 6-3 4-6 6-2 defeat to his Chinese opponent.

Edward Corrie's hopes died at the first hurdle, as he was beaten in straight sets by France's Stephane Robert, 6-4 6-3. The same fate befell Andrew Fitzpatrick, as he won the same number of games in a defeat to Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli, as the 17th seed for this section of qualifying triumphed 6-3 6-4. He will now face Dustin Brown in the next round.

Richard Broomfield fared little better, losing 6-4 6-4 to young Japanese player Hiroki Moriya. Luke Bambridge, making his debut at Wimbledon qualifying, fell in straight sets to Roberto Bautista-Agut, while George Morgan was crushed 6-0 6-4 by Spaniard Inigo Cervantes.